


A Little While

by graysonsflight



Series: Lost and Found [9]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bruce won't take care of himself, F/M, after Jason's death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graysonsflight/pseuds/graysonsflight
Summary: It’s been more than eight months since Jason died and Bruce is still refusing to rest long enough to grieve. Selina knew she’d never be able to convince him to slow down and now her world is getting complicated and she needs to get out of Gotham. Saying good-bye hadn’t been a part of her plan but she needed to see him – if only for a little while.
Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Series: Lost and Found [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/58469
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65





	A Little While

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there - this story is a part of the Lost and Found Universe but can 100% be taken as a stand alone. This is set about eight-nine months after Jason's death. If you're looking for a soundtrack for this song, I was listening to "Say Something" by Great Big World on repeat while doing the planning.

Selina Kyle hadn’t planned on coming up here tonight. She had planned on a quiet evening at home, finishing up the last of her packing and getting to bed early, because she planned on not being in Gotham when the sun came up.

But Gotham did funny things to people. The smell of fresh snow in the city had blown in through her window; it had called to her, tried to pull her out into the night – if only for one last time – and the city had won.

Selina had told herself that it would just be for a little while; just a chance to stretch her legs before she was cramped up in a car for the long drive ahead of her. But even as she’d made that promise, she knew it was a lie. She had told herself that she would stay out of his way tonight too – but here she was, standing on top of his building, dressed in layers instead of her cat-suit. Overlooking out over the twinkling lights. She knew that this was where the city had wanted her to be.

Gotham City was a greedy mistress and the city always got what she wanted.

The last time Selina had been on this particular rooftop, he had used her whip to bind her arms together. She had let him, holding completely still as he had worked behind her, neither one of them saying a word as his hands had trailed over her body.

Smiling, Selina wondered what he had done with the surveillance video from that night. She looked around trying to spot the cameras. They were all small and discrete, but she knew they were there. The top of Wayne Tower was covered in surveillance equipment. A part of her knew that if she waited long enough, he would show. As long as he was in the city, he’d be here.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander, imagining the feel of him pressed him behind her, all Kevlar and muscle. Selina smiled at the memory, her lips pulling up further as his familiar scent filled her nose and the quiet sounds of his boots on the roof alerted her to his presence.

“I knew you’d show up eventually,” she purred, tilting her head and leaning back into his touch.

“Selina, there are several people who could have been coming up behind you,” he scolded. It wouldn’t have been the first time he had lectured her about her ‘casual disregard for her own safety.’

“Mmm,” she considered, turning so that she could press her lips against the exposed skin of his jaw. “But with Nightwing and Batgirl busy with their own little team, it wasn’t likely.” She wasn’t supposed to know about what the kids were doing, but she liked to keep tabs. Especially since…since they’d lost Jason.

“Is there something you need?” he asked, his voice low and gruff. With his cowl still on, the man before her was all Caped Crusader. But she had felt him shift beneath her kiss, his proverbial mask shifting, if not the real one.

Need was a strong word when it came to this man. Selina could think of quite a few things she needed, but doubted Bruce would be able to give them to her and was damn well sure that Batman never could. This _relationship_ wasn’t supposed to exist. He had made it very clear on more than one occasion that he wanted her at arm’s length. Further if he could help it. Because he was stupid and thought if he could keep her out of his life, he could keep her out of danger.

“I wanted to see you,” she said, pulling away enough to look him over carefully. He looked tired. She considered asking what _he_ needed, but he was too stubborn to admit to anything as self-indulgent as _needing_ something.

“It’s cold out, ” he said, his voice losing some of its edge. “You should be inside.”

“Mmm, you offering to come with me?” she flirted.

“There _are_ other ways of getting ahold of me.” He moved closer and Selina wondered if it was intentional, or if he was just instinctively trying to share his warmth, to protect her from the wind that always seemed to blow this high up.

“Sure,” she conceded. “But none as exciting as this.” She leaned back up to him, her lips meeting his this time, taking what she could.

Bruce leaned down to her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. Not pulling her close, but not pushing her away either.

“Come sit with me?” she asked, breaking the kiss. Selina moved gracefully from his hands, making her way to the edge of the building, trusting that he would follow.

“There’s still more I can do tonight,” he protested, but his voice was Bruce’s now. And not the playboy flirt either. In that moment, he was the real Bruce Wayne: strong, exhausted, desperate to prove that he could change something.

“Gotham can wait for a little while,” Selina insisted, giving him what _he_ needed – someone to tell him to sit down before he collapsed. He moved slowly, but eventually, he came to her, letting her take his hand and lace her bare fingers through his.

“There’s still more,” he repeated, his eyes looking out over his city.

“There always will be,” Selina agreed. “But the sun will be up soon, and it’ll be time for all the good little Bats to hang up their cowls for the night.”

With a sigh, he pulled his hand from hers, quickly moving to type a message out on his other wrist.

“Dick?” she guessed, but Bruce just shook his head, allowing her to take his hand back when he had finished.

“Batgirl. Nightwing and I aren’t exactly…” Selina could see his jaw clench tightly as he trailed off. “She’d be with him though, so I know they’re both…”

It made her chest hurt to watch him like this. In the eight months since he’d lost Jason, Bruce had become even more protective, constantly checking in. And yet somehow more closed off. He hadn’t even bothered to scold her for using his first protégé’s real name. Although she wouldn’t necessarily admit it out loud, she cared for those kids. _Had_ cared for Jason. But if her pain was still an open wound – then Bruce’s was festering.

She moved in closer, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Have you put any more thought into taking a break?” she asked, already knowing the answer. And because he _knew_ she knew he didn’t bother to reply. “Bruce…” she pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. “You need some time…”

“Not all the criminals in Gotham are as considerate as you, Selina. They don’t take a break, and neither do I.”

Selina pulled back from him, turning to watch the few lazy snowflakes drift aimlessly through the sky. It had been a cheap shot, but she blinked her eyes and bit her tongue, refusing to rise to his bait. His words hung between them, colder than any wind he could shield her from.

“Selina… I...”

“Look, I get it,” she interrupted, eyes still looking anywhere but at him. “You are one of the only things standing between this city and the monsters that crawl the streets.”

“I am the _only_ thing,” he corrected, but his voice had lost its bite.

“I’m sure Jim Gordon would be thrilled by your assessment.”

“What do you want, Selina?”

Now _there_ was a loaded question. What she wanted was to take him back to his million-dollar mansion and muss him up a bit. What she wanted was for him to take some time off, to grieve, to try and fix things with Dick. She wanted to tell him that they needed to talk, that things had gotten complicated – and that she needed his help to figure them out. But Selina was smarter than that. She knew that part of her appeal for him had always been that she wouldn’t tie him down – wouldn’t ask him to give up his passion – this fire that was eating him up from the inside. She knew better than to ask for a commitment he didn’t know how to give.

Selina pressed back into his body, savoring the warmth that existed, tucked up there with him inside his cape. She knew that if she told him the truth, he would _do the right thing_ , because he was a good man. But she couldn’t live with the kind of resentment that decision would cause and she wouldn’t put that on someone else. Selina Kyle would never ask him to break his promise to this city – because Gotham would always win.

“I just wanted to tell you,” she said, breaking the silence that had washed over them. She wanted to tell him everything; that she loved him, that she… “I’m going to be leaving for a while.” It hadn’t been what she’d meant to say, but it was the right thing. She would stay away, figure things out on her own. It had been her plan from the start really, and she knew it would be better this way.

If he had been watching her instead of the city, he might have seen the quiet tears that she couldn’t stop from falling, or the way she hugged her body protectively. But there was only enough room in his world for one mistress – and the city had won Bruce long before she’d come around.

“All right,” he replied, his voice flat showing nothing. “Why tell me? You’ve left before and never said anything.”

It was true, she had. But this time it would be for longer and a part of her had hoped that _maybe,_ just maybe, he would have asked her to stay. She shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

“Thought you might like to know.” _So you wouldn’t worry_ , she thought, the guilt already starting to weigh her down.

“You don’t…” he started, sighing heavily. “You don’t _have to_.” It was the closest he would probably come to asking her to stay, to a declaration of love, and Selina wondered briefly if that could be enough, if she could really build a life off of that.

“I do,” she whispered, promising herself just a minute or two in his arms, protected from the real world, from the demands they both faced. She knew that she had to go. If there were any hope of giving this child a normal life, she would have to leave this place.

Carefully, she reached her hand up to wipe her face with her sleeve, pulling back from him with the realest smile she could manage.

“Take care of yourself, okay?” She pressed one last kiss to his jaw, taking a second to memorize the way he felt. She almost broke as she felt the back of his gloved hand brush against her cheek. If he asked, if he asked just once, then she knew that she would stay, and damn all the consequences to hell.

“Be safe,” he whispered, his voice making her heart break against her chest. She felt the cold seep back in around her as he stood to go. Without another word, she heard him activate his grappling gun – taking him back out into the city that didn’t deserve him, but would always hold his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I know we normally stick around the different Batkids for the story arc - but I've been wanting to write this Selina bit for a while now. Thank you for reading!


End file.
